


It was Just a game

by QuasarsFaults



Category: Hermitcraft RPF, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff for the first few chapters, Hermit!Taurtis, Multi, My First AO3 Post, Sahara - Freeform, concorp, hermitcraft au, no beta we die like men, nvm got a beta, season six, then things go down hill
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:07:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26087665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuasarsFaults/pseuds/QuasarsFaults
Summary: Taurtis Has been on the server awhile now, he's made new friends, a really tasty toritos shop, a new job working with Concorp, and he's even made this really cool pirate rollercoaster. So why did his and Scar's idea go so wrong?
Relationships: None
Comments: 3
Kudos: 41





	1. A game is hatched

“And how exactly are we bringing up our sales revenue?” Cub asked quizzically. He wasn’t so much asking in an accusatory sense, more like a fifth grade teacher when they want their class to come to a conclusion. His class being the two young men sat on opposite sides of the table. 

Scar was fiddling with a pen, twirling it around his fingers. Mind on something else. Cubs' questions pulled him back into reality. Reality being him smacking himself with said pen. No longer paying attention to Cub, he chose to focus on rubbing the sore spot on his head.

The other, Taurtis had been idly playing with the table. He shifted his focus to the rest of the room. After watching Scar smack himself and seeing the look on Cub’s face. His eyes trailed up every beam, every brick, ever crack in the wall as if it was going to instantly shower him with an idea. He focused on the large map behind Cub and his face lit up. Waving his wand wildly he began to shake the pile of shulkers he was sitting on. “And no we are not calling Mumbo again.” 

The happy hand of Taurtis lowered in defeat. The young man in the blue sweater had begun to pout slightly at the fact he couldn’t go to his easy sales guy. Cub gave a gentle cough trying to bring the attention back to him. It didn’t work. Taurtis was still nursing his hurt ego and Scar was still nursing his hurt head. Cub looked down at his compatriots. Removing his hand from the pocket of his finely ironed lab coat, he began pinching the bridge of his nose and rationalized why to himself why he shot Taurtis’ idea down.

Taurtis could sell anything; even a stick, with unbelievable ease. He was an amazing asset to Concorp, but if he kept selling to Mumbo. Who was working with Sahara, Concrop’s major rival. That could go bad. Mumbo could take the junk Taurtis sold him and repurpose it, just like Taurtis. The market would become oversaturated with junk. No one needed that. What they did need was a good hold on the Hermit stock market and their falling funds were not going to help. 

“Scar, any ideas?” Cub said with a snap of his fingers, trying for the second time to get his attention. It worked this time, he watched as Scar sat straight up. He was now focused on the meeting. The red spot on his forehead nearly glowed as he started to think.

“Ah well maybe we could try doing a…” Scar trailed off having no clue on what to do about lost income. He had accidently spent the morning meeting thinking about how he needed to fix the hole Taurtis caused. 

When they met each other at the portal that morning, there had been a creeper still wandering about from the night. Scar had flown off quickly when he heard the hissing, thanks to his elytra. Taurtis on the other hand doesn't use elytras,meaning he had to run from it the old fashioned way. Leading to a wall to be blown into smithereens. Scar scratched the back of his head and went away to business land. Cub could swear he saw steam rising from the two men's heads.

Taurtis thought about doing a sale, but then realized if they did a sale they would lose money. Maybe they could do a limited time product that would bring in consumers. The problem he found with this idea, is what could they even sell that isn’t already being sold. Taurtis was completely stumped going over ideas again and again. Many hmms and uhs echoed about as Taurtis continued thinking. There were even some eurghs thrown in for good measure. 

The room fell silent as everyone was lost in thought. The silent moment of thinking, was interrupted by sudden screaming. Taurtis’ scream of joy was followed by the sound of Scar falling out of his chair. If Cub hadn't already been fully gray, he sure was now. Bringing a finger to his ringing ear. 

“Alright, you have an idea?” asked Cub, already knowing his answer from his growing headache. 

“Uh huh, uh huh!” Taurtis shook his head up and down gleefully. Scar, recovering from his fall, had begun climbing back up to his feet. Placing a hand on the armrest of his business chair he pushed himself up.

“Well spit it out already!” he jokingly blurted out. Standing in front of his chair he fell back with a thump. The chair rocking back and forth for only a moment. 

“What if…” Taurtis drew out, trying to bring the others into his giddiness “...we make a mini game!” The excitement in his voice only growing. Scar’s face lit up, he was on board with the idea. It sounded like a lot of fun.

“What kind of mini game?! Would it be like a questionnaire where you have to hit the right answer or… or is it like a boat race kind of game?” Scar continued to ramble on about game ideas. Each one became grander than the last.

Taurtis’ face flushed. “Well I actually didn’t have an idea, I just thought it would be cool.” Twirling his thumbs. Taurtis shamefully avoided eye contact with the other two. Cub gave him a quick look of  _ are you serious _ before the buzzing of his communicator grabbed his attention. 

“That's all fine, you can figure it out at the next meeting. Turns out I’m getting messaged out of the wazoo.” Cub gave a hearty laugh and held up his communicator. It was insane - almost every second there was a new message, most likely from the same person. Cub’s eyes trailed over the messages and turned the two young men. “You two figure out an idea for a mini game and present it next week, okay?” Cub gave them a quick thumbs up before sprinting out of the room to answer the insistent caller. 

“Who was that?” Taurtis was interested in the mystery caller. Leaning over the table just a bit trying to see if he could hear Cub answer his communicator. Scar was doing the same. 

“I don’t know maybe, Cub’s been talking to everyone. So there isn’t one specific person that could be” Scar was trying to remember a specific person that Cub was talking too, but no one came to mind. Taurtis was trying to figure out who was more likely to spam, that was dead end everyone had a bad habit of spamming the communicator when trying to get a specific person’s attention. 

“Well whoever it was, was spamming him in private message.” Taurtis listened to Scar’s discovery. The Man pushed his hats brim upwards, as he continued to scan the communicator for any clue. “Maybe Concorp’s gonna get a customer?” Taurtis said hopefully, Scar shrugged. Sliding his finger up on the touch screen scrolling through previous logs.

“It might not be Concorp who’s getting a deal. Cub has other stuff besides Concorp” That made sense to Taurtis. He probably should try doing something outside of Concorp. Maybe he could make a roller coaster for every zone. It would be nice. 

Silence had begun to creep back into the room. Scar was still scrolling trying to figure out who was spamming Cub. Eventually he had come to a conclusion. He had no idea, but he did have an idea about a mini game. Looking at Taurtis who was stroking his chin, Scar Asked.

“So about that mini game?” Scar’s smile was huge and bright.

*** *** *** ***

Trekking through the Nether was always boring. Either someone traveled below or above the Ceiling. When travelling through the long tunnels one had to use a boat or an elytra. Taurtis wasn’t much of a fan of using the elytras; he was fine with boats, but even with all that ice on the ground the Nether is still way too hot and sweaty. The Ceiling on the other hand was a bit of a walk but there wasn’t any need to use an elytra so Taurtis usually chose the Ceiling even though the dust and bedrock always made him uncomfortable and his throat itchy. 

They crossed over the giant map of the world in minutes. Portals appearing on the horizon then disappearing. They knew they were getting close to the pirate zone, how? Because of Cleo’s portal. She had set up this tiny diorama of her pirate crew being lost in the Nether. One held a compass, another a map, and the last a sword. They all had looks of confusion etched into their pumpkin faces. Taurtis thought of maybe getting Cleo to set up a little scene for the game. Scar was hesitant, they barely had an idea of what the game was going to be in the first place. So they kept walking talking about what game ideas would be fun. 

Sometimes the ideas; as fun as they sounded, weren’t really the best when it came around to making it in reality. A giant board game sounded really fun, but as they kept talking about it, it stopped being fun and started becoming a tedious thought exercise. They’d have to figure out what each square did, how the dice would function, and how you could scream someone’s number to move from halfway across the board. 

Then came the problem of making an original game. There were already a lot of games in Hermitland and finding the perfect new game was going to be hard. Taurtis suggested a space themed game. Scar reminded him he already made a space themed game.  _ SpaceDig  _ was a huge success and people really enjoyed working for their reward. Lost in their discussion they had walked right past Taurtis’ portal home. Taurtis had decorated the outside of his portal much. Just put a sign up saying 

“TAURTIS COOL PAD!!” He was aware of his mistake in grammar but he was just keeping it up out of spite. Joe had stopped by, during one of his check ins to make sure Cleo was taking care of herself and made him aware of his mistake. Taurtis was eventually going to fix it but the poet had beat him to it. Upset that his job had been done for him. He put the mistake back and now whenever Joe comes by his portal it gets fixed. Then not a second later Taurtis unfixes it. The conversation was still fixated about making a good original game, as they continued walking. If they didn’t stop soon they would miss Scar’s home portal.

“You know a lot of people make racing mini games. It's kind of a staple at this point.” Scar had gone back to his idea of a boat race and begun dissecting it. Realizing that almost every other season there had been a race game of some sort.

“People like competing against each other,” Taurtis said from experience, kicking at the ground. That seemed to make something click in Scar’s head, that had the creative juices had started flowing.

“WAIT!” Scar called. Taurtis stopped right in front of the portal back to Scar’s base in the Pirate Zone, and looked at his excited friend. 

“It could be a competition game! Where people try to score more points than everybody else!” His voice picking up. “Ooh and... and there’d be teams! And…” Taurtis looked away from Scar to the Nether portal in front of them. “The teams could be based off of the zones!! We could have a tournament and there could be brackets and the best teams can face off!” Taurtis looked at Scar and they gave each other a look of a lifetime; one full of sunshine and rainbows. “We have to write it down!” Scar said grabbing Taurtis’s wrist and dragging him through the portal and back to his base. 

It was noon by the time they got out of the portal - six and a half days remaining to get the beta complete for Cub. The boys were on a roll - nothing was going to stop them from making their deadline. They had so many different games. Trying to whittle all of the fun ideas down was hard. They went through several games, always taking the best and tossing away what didn’t work. Eventually they had the base of the game after what felt like hundreds of scrapped and failed concepts. 

There was one trial version that no matter what changes they made it just blew up leaving them covered in soot and ash. Every time they tried to troubleshoot the problem a new one popped up. Taurtis had gotten so fed up with the setbacks that he kicked the freshly set redstone and it responded by blowing up in his face. Scar decided to block it up in a side crevasse and pretend that version was a lost and ancient ritual site that was super cursed. They continued working after that without as much of an issue. Eventually after four days they had a pretty good base game. 

At the end of their hard working day the two; feeling satisfied with their accomplishments, headed back to Scar’s little home in a coastal village. They set up a makeshift workshop in the living room. Blueprints swept over the coffee table in front of them. Scar was currently thinking up a name for the game, tapping his pen up and down on the table as he quietly hummed.

“How about  _ Jellie Tag _ ?” Scar asked in absolute, total seriousness. His face was so serious that it was all Taurtis could do to keep from laughing. Taurtis was not a fan of naming the game after Scar’s elusive cat and instead “No!  _ Taurtis Tag _ !” 

The two stared at each other trying their best not to crack up. They were keeping it together until Scar began trying to scribble  _ Jellie Tag _ onto the blueprints.

“Give me the pen!” Taurtis squealed as he lunged at the scribbling Scar. Pillows went flying everywhere in the scramble for the pen. 

“No way! Get your own!” Scar blocked his evil and crazed attacker from grabbing his dearest pen. He brought his foot up from the floor and shoved it into Taurtis’ stomach. The two opposing forces met and slid away from each other.

“I wanna choose the name!” Taurtis flailed, missing the pen each time. The couch wasn’t very big and moments later Scar could feel his back hit the armrest. He only had a few seconds before Taurtis hopped up and grabbed the pen. With his quick thinking Scar moved his foot so it would hook onto Taurtis’ pants suspenders. He rolled to the side and pulled Taurtis down.

“Oh! You want the pen so badly? Here!” As he finished his roll Taurtis fell into the gap between the table and the couch. Scar took this moment to pounce on the fallen man. Taurtis tried to push him off and had to move his head to avoid getting the contested pen in his mouth. Taurtis was laughing and wiggling when Scar eventually relented and got off the smaller man. Scar stood over his vanquished friend for a few seconds before bursting out into laughter. 

“What did you do to me?!” Taurtis shouted as he scrambled to his feet feeling every twinge and ache from work and roughhousing. Scar kept snickering. Taurtis knew something was up. He found the mirror on the east wall beside a cliche ‘live laugh love’ sign. 

“I look like a knock off Mumbo!” Taurtis exclaimed examining a terrible pen mustache drawn on his lip. Turning around to face his _ “friend” _ with a look mixed between, betrayal, amusement, and disgust. In his best pained and agonized voice he cried out.

“How could you!” Which made Scar double over in hysterics. The couch saved Scar from flopping to the floor. Watching Scar nearly fall to ground, broke any ill will he had towards him. Leaving the mirror and his mustache for another day, Taurtis crawled his way to the couch laughing his head off. He sprawled out next to Scar, giggling so much his chest started to hurt. 

The two boy’s laughter quieted as all of the labour and pressure from the day caught up to them. They were absolutely exhausted, too tired to take a shower or even go to bed. That log couch had never felt more comfortable.The two were incredibly excited to go show Cub next week at the Concorp meeting. But the meeting could wait for a while as two boys drifted off into sleep. Taurtis resting his head gently on Scars chest. Taurtis only had one thought before he drifted off to sleep, that this was going to be the best game ever and he was sure everyone was going to love it too.


	2. Pancakes and Panic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trust in Jellie she'll save the day.

First thing Taurtis heard was the waves outside gently lapping across the beach. Indirect sunlight reflecting off the waves from the eastern side of the house danced over the ceiling of the room.

 _What time was it? What day was it?_ Taurtis attempted to panic himself awake but he was so warm and comfy. He could use a couple more minutes of shut eye. Nothing was happening so what was the problem? The gentle sunshine and graceful dance of the dust moving through the air slowly got blurry and unfocused as his eyelids ever so gently made their way down. The kind and sweet embrace of darkness swept over him as his thoughts got quiet. He was just so comfortable, how could he just not go back to sleep. 

The annoying poking on the other hand had a point. In his sleepy state he brought his arm up, swung uncoordinatedly and missed the target at least twice, much to his annoyance. He was just so tired. He let his arm fall with thump as he rolled to the side and slurred out a weak “gre..en..st...p” in an attempt to appease his torturous god. The poking attacker spoke with a voice he was not expecting.

“Well good morning sunshine! Glad to see you’re a morning person” Taurtis shot up awake at the realization of who was in the room with him. If the hearty laughter to the right of him was any indication, his companion found his abrupt wake up very funny.

“Did you know you’re a drooler?” He was poked again. 

“Wha...?” Apparently he wasn’t as awake as he thought.

“Did you eat my shirt while I was sleeping or something?” Taurtis turned and looked at his friend, eyes trailing up and down trying to find what Scar was talking about. Then his eyes caught it - a large, dark wet spot over his heart on his tan button up. It really wasn’t hard to miss.

“Oh no I’m so sorry is-“ before Taurtis could continue apologizing Scar interrupted and gave him a pat on the back.

“It’s fine I can just wash it, but man it’s just a puddle!” Scar joked. 

“Yeah that makes sense.” Taurtis quietly added, as he started stretching his back. “So how long was I out?” He continued reaching upwards, a tiny yawn escaping him. 

“Well it's 10:40,” Scar said trailing off to the window, watching the quiet beach. It really was a beautiful day. Taurtis stood and turned around to join him at the window. Taurtis’ cracking back broke them from their wave watching. 

“Ow...” he whimpered out. “I guess I must have slept wrong.” Rolling his shoulders. Scar had found this funny and chuckled before jabbing an accusatory finger at the couch 

“This thing isn’t really meant for a good night’s rest.” Taurtis rolled his eyes and finished his stretching. He moved on to rubbing the sleep dust out of his eyes.

“Sooo what now?” Taurtis asked Scar. He watched as Scar lit up and began with a clearly rehearsed statement. He must have spent some time working on it before waking Taurtis.

“I’ve been doing so thinking about logistics and -“ He began and Taurtis finger snapping up to Scar’s mouth, nearly bruised his lips against his teeth. “Shhhhhh… no big Brain thinky-talky. Food first.” Using his other hand he began rubbing his stomach while pretending to have buckling knees. Taurtis was in no mood to start thinking about anything besides breakfast as his stomach’s loud gurgling growl echoed in the space between them. Scar wheezed as he moved the hand away, shaking his head softly.

“Okay then, what’s for breakfast? I have eggs, bacon, bread, some fruit, some golden carrots oh and some pancake mix!” He started listing everything he had in his humble abode and at that last item Taurtis’ eyes lit up.

“Pancakes?!” He began to vibrate on the spot. He was definitely excited about the idea of fresh pancakes. 

“I’m great at making pancakes, the literal master!” Taurtis began boasting. He had eaten so many pancakes in the past that of course he was going to know how to make them. 

“You can’t even believe how good my pancakes are!” 

Scar listened to his friend intently. He was sold on the idea, excited to try the pancake master’s pancakes. Then he came up with an idea.

“Oh I got it! we can double team this breakfast and make it the best ever!” Scar threw his finger up to the sky and paused letting his morning pep soak over the both of them. 

“Last one to the kitchen is a rotten egg!” Taurtis rocketed off of the couch and down the hall. Nearly knocking over a very nice succulent in his escape. Scar watched as his guest ran the opposite way to the kitchen. He heard a loud thump coming from the other end of the house and a soft ow. Gingerly he stepped out only into the hall. He caught sight of Taurtis walking back. He was massaging his nose and looking down at the floor.

“I don’t know where the kitchen is…” Taurtis mumbled. He kicked at the ground for a bit. Scar shaking his head, just pointed the other way. The kitchen didn’t have a door and you could see from where he was standing. A kindhearted sigh escaped Scar as he made for the kitchen. Taurtis followed him like a lost puppy down the hall, glancing back at the living room. He caught sight of himself in the mirror. 

Taurtis was missing his white button up. Confused by the lack of his shirt, he scraped his brain for an answer. He remembered that the night prior he had taken off his shirt. He had most likely left it outside all night. His shirt was most likely torn up by a wild chicken for its nest. Another thing he was missing was his suspenders. He was pretty sure he was still wearing them by the time he went to bed. Then he thought of the roughhousing from last night. Looking down he found that his suspenders had fallen off and down to his sides. With them at his sides he looked like a hipster. But all he could see was a blue coloured sweater rolled up to his elbows. An all too familiar fashion statement. ‘Dear void I look like...’ there was a pause in his thoughts ‘an Idiot! Haha owned’ he hadn’t realized that he had stopped walking to look at himself, so when Scar called back to him it caused him to jump a tiny bit.

“So what are you having to drink?" Taurtis whipped his head back to the door frame, as Scar looked over his shoulder at him. His joyful attitude returned to him quickly. 

“I’m thinking lemonade!” He brought a finger gun up and pointed at Scar noticing that Scar paused for a moment. It looked like he was trying to remember if he had any mix left.

“Lemonade... I think I'm all out. Remember playing golf?” Scar asked. 

Taurtis did. He, Scar and Cub out on the links and just how hot it was that day: them in their fancy golf outfits, nearly boiled alive under the unrelenting sunshine. The only thing that kept them from dying that day was the cold lemonade Scar poured into large ice filled glasses from his thermos. He really should have known that, but it didn’t stop Taurtis from snapping his fingers and giving a quiet drat. Now he’d have to come up with a whole new drink. How unfair. He pushed through his drink disappointment and thought for a couple seconds before giving his second answer.

“Water’s fine by me then.” Taurtis said with a shrug. With that answer Scar had gained a devious glint flash in his eyes.

“Well if it's water you want, grab a bucket – there’s plenty outside.” Scar snickered at his joke. Taurtis however gasped in fake disbelief. _How dare he?!_ Pushing past Scar, he walked straight into the kitchen and that's where Taurtis began his rebuttal.

“Hmph if you're gonna be like that, then no pancakes for you!” He looked back at Scar who was still snickering away. Deciding to continue his false act of being hurt by Scar, he stopped and stood proudly in the middle of the kitchen right in front of the stove. Then he turned his nose up at Scar, arms crossed and began ignoring him.

Scar was offended, he was hurt. How could his friend betray him like this? Placing a hand on his chest, he started his own charade of melodrama.

“You come into my home, eat my shirts, cook on my stove, and you aren’t going to share any pancakes?” Placing his hand on his forehead he had begun to fake cry.

“Why Taurtis?! Why?!? I thought we were friends!” Scar had nearly fallen over, deeply into his role of betrayed pancake eater. 

“Yeah and tell your little kitty she isn’t getting any either!” Taurtis dramatically swung a finger at Jellie who had found her way up on the table and began washing herself. Scar taking notice of his cat making herself apparent in the kitchen, shifted his focus onto her.

“Aww! Did we wake you Miss-I-run-this-house?” Scar had started baby talking at his grey tabby cat which meant the game was over. Taurtis took a moment to look around the room. It was undeniably fancier then Taurtis would have preferred if it was his kitchen. Taking note of everything in the room, Scar had obviously chose looking good over being functional. 

“Hey where do you keep your uh... pancake mix?” Words just weren’t coming to him like they should have. He needed to take a moment to refocus on his task. 

“Oh it's usually in the chest up there.” Scar had pointed to a chest above the window, then he went back to petting Jellie. Taurtis could hear Scar cooing at the cat in a sweet, annoying baby talk. Staring at the chest, something about it bugged him. He finally realized the chest was a good six feet off the ground. There was no way he could reach it.

“Why did you put it so high up?” Taurtis commented about the placement of the chest. He jumped up and down trying to grab on the edge of the shelf it sat on. It was the best idea he could come up with because he was definitely not grabbing a chair to reach it. All he had to do was grab the self’s edge so he could pull himself up to look in that stupid high chest. That was the plan but Scar’s long-awaited answer distracted him.

“Because high chest’s are aesthetically pleasing,” Scar responded in a _because I said so_ tone. This made Scar’s next actions of abandoning the cat and crouching down in front of the base cabinets under the counter bizarre. Taurtis watched silently as he dug through the cabinet. Confused about whether or not the storage container should be on the ground or ceiling and where was that pancake mix?

“But you said... never mind.” Shrugging as he tried again to reach the high chests. He was a bit on the shorter side compared to others his age, so all the jumping was beginning to look like a futile attempt. He was about to jump upwards again when a long, tan sleeved arm crossed over his shoulders and a second long arm brought a bag with stock images of pancakes on it into view.

“If you needed help grabbing it all you had to do was ask, by the way I got you the pan too.” Scar said with a tone of genuinely trying to help. Holding the pancake bag in one hand and now pointing to the pan on the counter with the other. Taurtis reached out and helped his ‘helpful’ friend by taking the bag. The back of the bag had several different measurements and ratios. Taurtis gave the pancake bag the rest of his left-over annoyance while he tried to figure out the perfect pancake mixture measurement for the unlisted “Extravaganza” serving size. He was still feeling petty that Scar got the bag for him.

”Hmph… I could have got it myself,” he huffed as he held onto the bag a wee bit too tightly. Scar chuckled as he walked over to another set of high shelves with chests on them.

“You need a bowl too, right?” The crinkling of the pancake bag stopped as Taurtis looked up at Scar. He nodded and looked around. Trying to locate the next step in the pancake making.

“Uh, yeah. Oh and where do you keep your measuring cups and spoons?” 

By now Scar had begun feeling about in the chest on the highest shelf for a bowl. It took him a moment to remember where he stashed his cups. 

“They should be beside the oven, like a bit to right,” Scar said with a jerky head motion to where the cups were, but instead of a directional geasutre it just looked like a weird bird bob motion.

Taurtis tried to decipher the bird code with the words he was given. Eyes trailing over the cupboards trying to pick out which one had the measuring cups. 

_Beside the oven and to the right._ Taurtis easily located the stove and the two cupboards beside it. He had to make a decision right or left. Scar had said to look in the right cupboard it would make the most sense, but something told him to look in the left one first. 

Taurtis crouched down so he could get a better look. It was nearly pitch black in there and packed to the brim. He continued looking, eyes straining to find wherever the measuring cups were. Taurtis had started to feel pretty dumb looking in the left one first but as his eyes adjusted, he saw something. Way at the back there was an old cookie tin. It had dents, scrapes and in some places the paint was chipping. The only reason Taurtis could tell it was the right container was because there were measuring cups falling out of it left and right.

It took a bit of effort as Taurtis tried to grab the tin from the back of the cupboard. Eventually he’d managed to get it out, but with how precariously the cups were stacked the sudden shaking had caused them to fall out and tumble onto the ground. 

“Seriously? I know you’re awful when it comes to organizing stuff but you can take a minute to fix this mess." The soft clinking of the old cookie tin hitting a hard surface let Taurtis know he’d found the top of the counter. Bending even further down he began picking up the cups that fell. 

Something caught his eye as he knelt down. A strange spotty feather. It was a beautiful lilac with white spots that made it look like stars. Something in his chest twinged. It told him to remember, but remember what?

“Huh where’d this come from.” Taurtis said standing up. Holding onto the cups he placed them down on the counter first, before going to pick the feather up. Now holding the delicate feather in his palm. He looked over it, it looked to be a part of the plumage right at the base of the wing. What kind of bird had purple feathers? It was so soft, he couldn’t believe it was real.

Scar climbing down from the other shelves, had turned around to see what he was talking about. In the crook of his arm he had a large metal bowl. Taking a peek at what Taurtis had cupped gently in his hand he spoke.

“What? Oh Jellie got into my shulkers a couple days ago. So I'm pretty sure it came from there.” Looking back at his bowl Scar shrugged. Not seeing what made Taurtis so interested in it. Nothing called out to him like it did Taurtis, but due to his friend’s lack of interest Taurtis shrugged it off too. He carelessly flicked it at Jellie. He watched as she began batting at it, happy he could make the cat happy. Not caring at all that she was _still_ on the table. 

Taurtis had all he needed to get started and quietly went off to work. Scar was placing a pitcher of water on the table, while Taurtis started the first pancake. He had seen on tv these amazing chefs who would toss the food in the air to flip it. He had wanted to try doing it for so long, and now he had the chance. Bringing the pan off of the burner. Taurtis slowly raised and lowered it, working up the courage to flip the pancake. Then in a flash he threw the pan up with all his might, and swung it back down almost as fast. 

He paused in confusion. There was a distinct lack of pancake in his pan. But If the wet slapping sound that came from behind him was any indication that he didn’t perform his trick right. The loud ow from the pancake recipient was a big clue. 

“Um why am I covered in pancake goop?” Taurtis turned slowly and looked behind him. He tried his hardest desperately not to laugh. The pancake that hit Scar was now acting as a lovely replacement of his hat. The pancake tosser tried his hardest to give an explanation but all he could do was laugh at his poor goopy friend. 

“Fine, Fine I understand.” Scar raised his hands and pouted. Taking the cooked half of the pancake off, giving it a toss into the garbage can. The still warm batter oozing down the side of his head. He tried to comb the rest of the batter out of his hair to no avail. 

“Now I need a shower.” He flexed his hand crushing the goop between it. Scar Tried flicking off most he could from his hand before making his way for the bathroom. He paused turning his head, so he could look Taurtis in the eyes. 

“don’t try that again. I don't want to clean pancake off of the roof” he made himself clear by pointing at the ceiling then back at Taurtis. Making the motion of _I’m watching you_ to nail in his point even further.

“I can’t make any promises but I can try and make sure to not get any on Jellie!” Taurtis made a weak motion at Jellie whose fur was on end. She had nearly been splattered if it weren’t for Scar acting as an unintentional shield. A soft chuckle escaped Scar as he looked down at Jellie.

“Good, now don’t burn the house down!” Taurtis gave him a quick salute, as he watched him saunter down the hall. With a deep sigh, he spoke to Jellie.

“Lets try this again. Nothing can go any worse than that.” 

Taurtis had a confession to make: he never actually cooked before. He was never taught and his two _roommates_ were no help either. One constantly got convenience store food or take out and the other made all the meals when he could. School could go on for hours and sometimes they’d wake up late and his roommate had smashed all of the alarm clocks in the house. He then pinned the blame on his other room mate. What were their names again? He really should have known but... Taurtis shook his head as he delved deeper into the past. 

Sighing he could still hear the arguments those two would have. Well that made sense because most of the arguments were all the exact same. One would be wrong and the other would try and correct him, try to help him, but he never listened and only got angry. Taurtis could swear the only reason he was alive was because his other roommate actually had a brain. He paused and thought a little deeper. Turns out someone had attempted to teach him how to cook. Who was it again? Oh… right his smart roommate had tried his best to teach him, but Taurtis would get distracted too easily. 

‘Distracted easily’ He continued to repeat. Not realizing that as he fell deeper into his introspection; about his lack of life skills. It caused him to become distracted and ignore the smoking, and sizzling pancake. Only when Jellie started hissing and yowling. He was brought out of his stupor. 

The pancake was now on fire. Taurtis stared at the growing flame trying to come up with a solution as quick as possible without panicking. The idea he came up with was to grab the pan and toss it in the sink and turn the faucet on. It was a great idea except he didn’t know that the heat had traveled up the handle and was currently making a lovely home in it. Taurtis grabbed it and only managed to lift it for a few seconds before his hand started screaming, that it was getting burned. Causing him to drop the pan on the… very much non fire resistant wood flooring. 

Watching his mistake grow he screamed; not only because he set the house on fire but his hand hurt like the Nether. Down the hall he could hear the sound of feet running against the wood floor. Scar had run in with a fresh set of clothes and a towel on his wet hair. The first thing he saw was a bright orange flame slowly eating away at his house. The second thing was Taurtis holding his poor hurting hand.

“What did I tell you not to do!!” He shouted looking at the growing flame. Taurtis had no idea what to say, so he said nothing and just held his burnt hand. Scar Understanding his friends was in shock, burst into action.

“Scar to the rescue!” He shouted, ripping the towel off his head. Scar began whacking at the fire in an attempt to put it out. This only resulted in the towel catching on fire, causing Scar to panic and fling the towel away from himself. Right into the fire between the two, if it were any other setting it’d be a lovely bonfire but no. The two stood there dumbfounded watching as it consumed the towel and grew even larger. 

“Quick call nine-one-one!” Taurtis screamed, waving his non burned hand emphatically at the fire. His voice had finally returned to him.

“We don’t have a fire department!” Scar called back and pointed at the sink,

“Grab a bucket and fill it!” The fire crackled as Taurtis began rummaging in cupboards and chests, Scar doing the same on the other side of the kitchen. Things were being knocked left and right in the boys' search for a bucket. No one seemed to remember the filled pitcher of water on the table. Well no one except Jellie, who had finished cleaning off what batter landed on her earlier. She gently padded over to the edge of the table watching the flames flicker before reaching a paw and batting the pitcher over the side.

The water flooded the ground beneath them dousing the fire as a pitcher came crashing down. Jellie was now looking down at the mess of burnt things and broken pitcher. The shattering stopped the frantic searching from the two. Taurtis was amazed by how smart Jellie was, Scar on the other hand had placed his hands on his hips and sighed. 

“How did we not… You know what. Good girl, aren’t you smart?” Jellie purred in response to Scar’s praise. Taurtis splashed his foot in the puddle on the floor, making a small tching sound as he looked up at Scar. 

“Okay bathroom, the door you ran into. remember? There should be some health or regen potion left in there. Use it on your hand. I'm gonna clean up in the meantime." The instructions Scar gave Taurtis were a lot more simple than last time. Deciding it would be better to follow them to a ‘ _T’_ this time instead of going his own way. Looking out into the hall he rubbed the back of his head. Of course he’d remember the door he ran into. It was just a skip and hop down the hall or a small sprint.

The bathroom had a very Scar styled feel. There were a few hanging plants, a pretty towel rack, and the usual bathroom necessities and those necessities being the potions for Taurtis’ burning hand. Using his non-burned hand he tried to open the bathroom mirror cabinet. It was difficult because he was using his non-dominant hand. He thought about how much more of a challenge grabbing the bottles and drinking some or pouring it on his wound would be. 

The cabinet popped open after a bit of tugging. He let it swing out a bit, just enough for him to get in without any difficulty. Just like every other container in Scar’s house it was filled with stuff that shouldn’t be there. Taurtis stared perplexed at why Scar would leave a bone in his cabinet. He continued scanning until he found a small bottle with what he thought was a potion regen in it. The label had a lovely script word on it. Deciphering the beautiful handwriting wasn’t as much of a tortious act. He was right. The bottle was a regen potion. 

Taking the bottle in one hand he tried to pop the cork on it, but no matter how hard he tried it just wasn’t working. In a stroke of genius or plain stupidity he smashed the bottle on to the side of the counter hoping to crack the top off. Instead the bottle burst spraying the liquid everywhere, but hey least he got some on his hand. The bright pink liquid began seeping into his skin. The burn slowly faded and the searing pain became background noise. Using the towel in front of the tub he deposited the shards of glass into the trash can. Satisfied with his work as he looked around the bathroom. Not a shard of glass insight, the only thing that could give away the fact he smashed the bottle. Was the undeniable smell of a regen potion on certain objects. Scar wouldn’t suspect a thing. He stood up and left the bathroom and went back down the hall to the kitchen.

When he reached the doorway, he waited for a second. Unsure if he should announce his arrival or just walk in and hope Scar notices him. He ended up not doing either as Jellie had trotted her way up to him and began having a very one sided in depth conversation. Scar noticed that Jellie was meowing at something in the doorway. Taking a few steps to see the figure better. Concerned and tired he sighed.

“Is your hand okay?” Scar had leaned himself against the wooden door frame. Taurtis gave an embarrassed chuckle as he showed off his hand. All Scar did was nod and motion him back into the kitchen. 

“You did a number on the floor and pan… I think I'm going to have to charge you for damages,” he said looking down at the scorched floor boards. Taurtis grimaced. 

“I have a confession to make.” Scar looked up with concern. 

“Hey! I’m joking – you really don’t need to pay me,” but Taurtis had already begun mumbling his confession. “What? I didn’t hear you. Speak up.” Scar raised a hand to cup his ear and leaned towards Taurtis. His friend spoke faster but quieter. Scar could only make out a few words here and there but nothing stood out as important.

“I never learned how to cook!” Taurtis finally shouted. That wasn’t what Scar was expected to hear. He thought Taurtis was saying that he was broke but learning that his friend had no experience in the kitchen shook him. 

“Wait, wait, wait you mean to tell me you were just winging it?!” Scar was at a point where he didn’t know to laugh or freak out. Taurtis watched his friend start having a breakdown. He didn’t know what to do, what could he say to fix his mistake. Nervously he started laughing. A gentle chuckle here and there but it turned into full blown laughter. Apparently that was the right decision because it got Scar to calm down. Joining in with his own laughter.

“Okay” Scar said with a sigh “You set the table up. I make the pancakes” he exaggerated his I very harshly. For the third time that day there was an attempt to make pancakes.

*** *** ***

It had taken some time but they each had a nice stack of fluffy pancakes. 

“Okay you said you were the best at making pancakes, but turns out you’ve never touched a stove! What's the truth” as Scar spoke he waved his fork about. Taurtis who was eating the pancake like a burrito paused, nearly choking. He chewed for a bit before swallowing. 

“Look, I watch cooking shows all the time. I thought the knowledge would transfer.” The look on Scar’s face was the only answer Taurtis needed to see to know his answer. Scar gently began rubbing his temples. 

“Okay… this is fine,” he mumbled as he dug into his pancakes. They sat in silence eating. The only sound was the gentle clinking from their cutlery touching the plate. Taurtis hunched himself over feeling pretty bad about the silence they were in now. His head popped up like a Jack-in-a-box _._

“You said there were some logistical issues right?” He said with a smile on his face from remembering the conversation from the morning and hoping this change of conversation would redirect everything away from his ‘cooking’ skills. Scar looked up at him and lit up for a moment before his face fell with a trepidation. 

“Well,” he hedged, ”the problem is that the game is an event kind of thing now.” He paused for dramatic effect. Taurtis had started mentally anticipating what the problem could be. Dozens of options popped up, it could be anything really and he was starting to drive himself mad when Scar finally finished his sentence. 

“The biggest problem is: how do we make money from it?” And that was it - the crux. The whole point of the past several days’ work and labour. A game that could be presented to Cub that could and would make money. They had been so focused on the game that they had forgotten the original point of the exercise – show Cub the money.


	3. The terrible very bad no good meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey... Sooo yeah I'm a little off the mark but stuff kept coming up when I wanted to get working on this but Ta da!

Tense was an understatement. The ConCorp meeting room’s atmosphere was thick and heavy. Nowhere was safe from the oppressive feeling that hung in the office. Even with all the torches lining the walls, bright and blaring. They couldn't give out enough light to illuminate the room. In fact it seemed to be even darker today. Shadows which were usually gentle and hidden away were vicious and ate every they could. 

The bookshelves that were built into the walls looked like they had gone straight through the ceiling, and with the tall imposing wood beams placed symmetrically in between them, made everything below them feel small and insignificant. 

Slow and rhythmic tapping echoed around the room. Neatly trimmed nails tapped against the hardwood table. A man with a bald head with a grey ring of thinning hair was in contrast with the large a voluminous beard the man possessed, sat vigilante staring down the only other people in the room.

“Tell me how instead of making money, Concorp has to give up what’s left of the reserves” Cub brought his tapping hand to his chin and leaned on it. The two on the other side of what felt like a hundred kilometre long table, shrunk down even further into their too large and ill fitting suits. The men in an attempt to be professional and lessen Cub’s disappointment wore suits to the meeting . But due to them _borrowing_ the suits from Mumbo, it sat wrong on both of them and made the attempt moot.

“Not all of the reserves!” Taurtis chirped trying to make it seem better. Cub’s attention was now on Taurtis . Waiting for the answer of why this was a feasible idea in the long run. 

“The plan is that instead of having a huge prize pool we only put in six diamonds !” The tension broke, and slowly a suffocating alarm creeped in.

“What do you mean by only six diamonds?” Concern was streaked across Cub’s face. Looking straight at Taurtis with brows raised as high as he could push them. The big goofy grin Taurtis had on his face began to crumble as he realised what he had said.

“Uh, oh six diamond blocks!” A quick attempt to remedy the miscommunication he had caused. 

“So the prize pool is just six diamond blocks?” Cub asked, trying to pad through Taurtis’ rattled thoughts. He figured by now that Taurtis had gotten excited and lost his footing. He waited for him to gather his thoughts.

“Uh I- I mean like we make the other Hermits pay!” Taurtis stuttered out his explanation. Hoping that his previous statement could be cleared up with more explanation. Seeing the look on his company's faces made him realize he wasn’t exactly making it easy for them to figure out his ideas and that he should probably explain it once more.

“We would have a-a entry fee!” Trying his best to narrow down his thoughts but he felt absolutely ridiculous being the only one talking and the looks his friends were giving him had begun to make him incredibly self conscious. 

But knowing that he had to try and make them understand. Striving to do his best and finish what he had started.

“If we get everyone to pay an entry fee, we’d get eighteen diamond blocks!” Taurtis had done it; he had finished his train of thought. Eyes scanning around the room looking for a friendly face. It was dead silent. Cub had placed his head in his hands thinking deeply, Scar looked relieved, and Taurtis wondered how badly he messed it up. 

His idea had come from looking at other people's event games. The other games had entry fees too but that was after a sizable prize pool was already in place. When it would come to their game they could add in gold or emerald blocks to help raise the prize pile into something more appealing to the average Hermit.

It took him a few moments before Taurtis realised the real reason Scar was pale. It was because he had spooked him with his declaration of making the prize pool _only_ six diamonds. He must have spooked Scar and when Taurtis tried to elaborate what actually was going to happen, it must have been a whiplash for him. Taurtis' train of thought of how badly he messed up had been cut off, as Cub finally started talking again.

“How do you know everyone would pay?”. Cub had figured out what Taurtis was trying to communicate. Though Cub had a bit of time to think over Taurtis’ plan, with his small reprieve from the conversation. Taurtis had not.

Obviously he thought that everyone was going to play. But really, how was he so sure about it? They could have gotten an even number meaning that two people wouldn’t be able to play, as each team was a three person team. 

Taurtis was floored, he hadn’t even begun to think about the possibility of someone not wanting to play. He had to come up with a solution quickly. With them building a new game that would pull in the crowd attraction, but wouldn’t keep them interested for long. They could try advertising? Taurtis silently cheered himself on. Maybe he could put up posters or flyers, maybe even get a sponsor! But who could they get? Realising that he was running out of time, Cub had started to get his disappointed father figure look and Taurtis hated that look. So taking a chance he blurted out his half baked idea.

“Advertising!” He swung his arms out in an oval motion. From the outside it looked like he had everything under control and that he was a master business man. On the inside though, Taurtis was so close to passing out. 

Everything was starting to turn out right in Taurtis' mind then his usual headache that would show up when he was at ConCorp for too long started up. His head pulsed with blurry images and feelings of loneliness. Not wanting to seem unprofessional he pushed through and tried, and focusing on Cub. He stared at Cub as long as he could without seeming weird. Then he was fine and any worry about Cub not believing his plan had disappeared. He could see it, Cub was absolutely onboard but was just pretending to be uninterested.

“Uh, huh how?” Cub questioned, not even looking up at Taurtis and instead on the neatly stacked pile of paper in front of him. Taurtis knew better, he knew Cub’s real feelings. He could see them and watching his excitement flicker gently in and out with only the tiny twitches of his face. Taurtis could see so many possibilities, he could watch them work, play and see who would be best for this job. The best walking advertisement was none other than.

“... Joe! We have Joe doing our advertising” Taurtis chirped, confident in his choice. The twinging of his muscles around his eyes made him drop his mask for a second. His eyes were sore like he stretched them too much. 

Could that even happen? 

“Taurtis! What are you doing?” Scar nearly screamed his whisper. He had already begun to panic about what kind of hole Taurtis was digging them into and now the panic he felt had hit a boiling point. 

Taurtis taken away from his vigorous rubbing of his eyes, shifted towards Scar in an attempt to hear his complaint. As he turned to Scar it was as if he rubbed out whatever brilliant train of thought he had found. 

His strange third sense of advertisers slipped away leaving only a sense of missing something. The missing feeling was replaced with his tried and true salesman mask. Something he used very often, something more grounded and familiar. 

Taurtis with the tone of a seasoned conman, patted the back of his partner.

“ Scar calm down, we got this” and he rested his hand on Scar's shoulder for a couple seconds before turning back to the boss. He could've sworn that Cub was laughing at them before he started waving their attention back onto him.

“That makes sense for the prize pool, but we still won’t have profit from it.”

Now this was something they both had prepared for. Taurtis looked at Scar and let him take the floor.

“Well, we’d sell concessions, like what we’ve been doing already.” Scar began his section of the script they had spent the last few weeks writing and rewriting.

“Since there is only gonna be one game a day people won’t get tired with the food and also there would be merch like shirts and foam fingers” 

They had already come up with a genius way of making money from merch. Only have two colours. Red and blue. so they’d just have to dye a shirt red or blue and done. The foam finger would take extra work but could be easily manufactured and dyed. They’d obviously charge more for the fingers than the shirts. 

“So you expect everyday that the audience would buy shirts and foam fingers?” Cub was right to criticize the boy's hopes again. They were relying on the fact they believed everyone was going to play and now buy some merch.

“Well, we’d figured they would be hot or the games would take long and when people come off the field they’re gonna be hungry so of course they’ll buy some food and so we won’t just rely on shirt sales.” It was Scar’s turn to wing it and he was nailing it. Not a stutter or a hiccup straight and to the point. Scar could see why Taurtis liked winging his presentations; it gave you a sort of adrenaline rush.

He was so caught up in his excitement he hadn’t realised Cub had begun rolling his hand trying to get Scar to keep going. Feeling a little sheepish Scar bowed his head just a tiny bit and continued.

“And there will be a ban on outside food. So if they’re hungry they’d have to buy!” 

“Okay let's just imagine everyone buys a hot dog, ice cream, a shirt and foam finger. People are only going to buy one shirt and foam finger so whatever we price them at we’d have a sale of Y plus X Times eighteen. Then we plan on having every day the eighteen people participate would be buying a hot dog and ice cream. Will there be soft drinks? Can’t have a good sport show without hot dogs and an ice cold soft drink” 

Cub had pulled out a calculator from his coat breast pocket. Rambling as he typed in several equations

“Yes” The two answered in perfect unison just wanting the meeting to end because the longer it went on. The more they felt dumb and like they messed up somewhere.

“Alright good to know” Cub had answered to the thin air around him. He continued tapping away at his calculator sometimes to write something down on a piece of paper besides him.

“So if W is our food prices and generally food is going to be priced around the same way, and there are six teams. So six days that the stands would be open, and then eighteen people…” eventually cubs quiet mumbling slowly became loud enough for both to hear again. Looking up at the two with his most serious face, Cub began to speak again. Taurtis could feel his throat tighten. Scar had scrunched his lips so thin he was eating them.

“Alright we can make a profit with this. You boys did good.” Cub cheerfully chirped and snickered as he watched Taurtis , and Scar melt into puddles of relief. Cub tried his best not to laugh at the two. He really wasn’t going to shut down their idea. 

“Now I’m sure you two need to _talk_ ” remembering Scar ’s look of panic from early Cub let them go. He could hear them from the hall if they were going to stand outside and chastise each other. That would be entertaining, he thought.

“Great thanks Cub, we’ll get to work on that sooner than you can ConCorp!” And with Cub giving the _a-okay_ for them to leave Scar grabbed Taurtis by the suspenders and dragged him out of the room.

“What was that? You never mentioned advertising!” Scar stood in front of Taurtis , trying to be imposing. Taurtis shaken by the sudden yank shook his head and began telling Scar to relax 

“Relax Scar, we got the thumbs to start work who cares about a little bit of advertising?” Scar stared deep into Taurtis ’ black eyes, those eyes were filled with a smug air of _I’m the best_. Scar had clued into something and what seemed to be panic fueled lecture turned cold and calculated.

“Let me guess… you haven’t even asked Joe to do advertising yet have you?”

Taurtis was caught, as much as he can feign expertise; he couldn’t talk his way out of this situation. 

“... yeah.” Taurtis scratched at the back of his head. Slightly moving his headphones before shifting them back into place. 

“Well I’m not helping, It’s all you bud. I’m sure you’ll do great.” Scar had taken Taurtis ’ smug air all for himself. He turned his back to Taurtis before looking back. 

“If you need me I’ll be in the game district looking for a plot” Taurtis face scrunched as Scar stuck his tongue out at him. Taurtis could only make a silly face for a fraction of second as a firework went off in the hall meaning Scar had already flown off. 

“Now if I were Joe where would I be?” Taurtis tapped at his chin before sighing. 

“I got myself in a whole helping of trouble.”


End file.
